As illustrated in FIG. 8, a standard manner of retaining floor carpets in place involves use of strips of plywood (a) having equally spaced-apart retention nails (b) extending upwardly from the underside of the plywood strip at an angle away from a carpet (g) being retained. The plywood strip (a) is secured to the underlying floor (d) by larger nails (e) extending downwardly through the plywood strip and into the floor. The carpet (g) is placed over a pad (f) which is slightly thicker than the thickness of the plywood strip (a).
As shown in FIG. 8, the plywood strip (a) is positioned a short distance away from wall (c). The carpet (g) is retained by forcing the edge of the carpet (g) into the space between the wall (c) and the adjacent edge of the plywood strip (a) thereby causing the retention nails (b) to engage into the underside of the carpet.
One drawback of using retainers in the form of plywood strips (a) to hold floor carpets in place is that if downward pressure is applied near the edge of the carpet, for instance such as by walking, an upward force is exerted on the edge portion of the carpet which may result in disengagement of the carpet from the retention nails (b). In addition, if the retention nails are too long, the upper tips of the nail may extend upwardly through the carpet, possibly engaging the sole of the shoe of a person walking on the carpet or even puncturing the bottom of the foot of the walker, if barefoot or in stocking feet.
One purpose of the present invention is to overcome the foregoing disadvantages of using plywood strips, such as strips (a), to retain carpets.